1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of armor systems used to protect against regular and armor piercing firearm projectiles and their fragments as well as debris of various objects (collectively referred to herein as projectiles). The invention provides an armor system suitable for a variety of purposes such as for making protective body garments, protective shields, and armored wall structures for enclosures including buildings, and vehicle and ship bodies. More particularly, the invention relates to personnel body garments having protective armor that incorporates principles applicable throughout the field of armor systems.
2. Background and Related Art Discussion
Armor plate adapted to be secured to the sides of war vessels has been known since the beginning of the 20th century. U.S. Pat. No. 787,065 issued in 1905 discloses an armor plate of a simple, inexpensive multi-layered structure having a combined minimum weight with a maximum capacity to effectively protect war vessels by resisting against projectile penetration. The structure comprises superimposed plates of such character that a wall of armor plate can be of any desired thickness, and will tend to deflect projectiles from their course of travel.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,110,322 discloses a protective structure against artillery shells that has a plurality of rectangular elongated tubular structures formed by welding flat steel bars arranged side-by-side to form continuous layers as shown in FIG. 2. The tubular, rectangular cross-sections are welded at the apexes of each corner of the rectangular cross-sections.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,316,055 is directed to a shield made with alternative layers of flat and corrugated sheets. FIGS. 10 and 11 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,240,858 disclose the use of square cross-sectional tubing to produce a panel that is resistant to penetration by a projectile.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,443,883 shows a ballistic garment with panels 31 and 32 of non-woven ballistic laminate structures that contain multiple fiber bundles and substantially cover the wearer's thorax region to protect vital organs such as the heart and lungs. FIG. 7 shows a first panel 31 that has at least 10 and no more than 40 sheets of ballistic laminate structure 25 for preventing penetration of conventional rifle rounds. To prevent penetration of hand gun rounds, panel 31 has at least 40 and no more than 80 sheets of laminate structure 25. Adequate protection from extremely high powered rifles or rifles firing steel core and/or steel jacketed rounds may require up to 150 layers. Unbound laminate structures overlaid in substantial registration with each other and placed in pockets formed in garment 30 illustrates many types of garments that can incorporate panels as those disclosed.
Dragon Skin is a type of ballistic vest made by Pinnacle Armor. It is currently produced in Fresno, Calif. Its characteristic two-inch-wide circular discs overlap like scale armor, creating a flexible vest that allows a good range of motion and can allegedly absorb a high number of hits compared with other military body armor. The discs are composed of silicon carbide ceramic matrices and laminates, much like the larger ceramic plates in other types of bullet resistant vests. This armor has been known to withstand grenade blasts and up to 40 rounds of ammo.
Modern body armor systems incorporating two-dimensional flat ceramic plates are limited in stopping projectiles and preventing kinetic energy transfer to a wearer. Material composition used in armor is a primary concern. However, further application of principles of physics and engineering produced an innovative and effective design that overcomes the limitations of two-dimensional (2D) ceramic plate.
Initial Research
The U.S. Army Interceptor outer tactical vest (OTV) uses 28-30 layers of KEVLAR® ballistic fabric to currently protect its personnel against small arms fire and fragmentation. Front and back rigid armor inserts (small arms protective insert, SAPI) can be used to protect vital organs from high velocity armor piercing bullets. Rigid armor SAPI plates commonly comprise thick ceramic plate (0.8-1 inches), hardened steel, or high-strength titanium alloy. The plates cause bullets to fragment, while the underlying ballistic fabric catches the fragments of bullet and ceramic pieces.
In current war zones, service personnel traveling in convoys are frequently attacked by rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and roadside improvised explosive devices (IEDs). When a RPG hits the side of an armored vehicle, the explosion creates four main types of threat: a) blast over-pressure (i.e., shock wave), b) blast superheated air and gases, c) shrapnel, fragments, and debris from the RPG's casing, and d) a spray of molten drops of liquid metal (spall) from the vehicle's steel.
As the ability of our offensive military technology expands, so too must our defensive capacity. Thus, a demand is increasing for body armor capable of withstanding high velocity armor-piercing rounds. Military engagements prove the demand for armor is critical in the survival of U.S. forces personnel. Also, high-powered weapons flood our cities causing an exponential increase in law enforcement officers that are outmatched and outgunned requiring a device to even the odds.
War leaves behind a legacy of wounded soldiers. For every fatality, between seven or eight are injured. From a financial standpoint, the cost of deploying one U.S. soldier for one year in Iraq reportedly is $390,000. Although the U.S. defense budget is half a trillion dollars, for many, the $260 per person for side armor remains too expensive. Our State Department says that most deaths are the result of inadequate body armor: Even though a few hundred dollars seems a nominal cost for protecting a life, the on-going debate of cost-effectiveness reveals the incredible need for effective, inexpensive armor like the current invention.
A Pentagon study found that at least 80% of marines killed in Iraq from wounds to their upper body could have survived if they had extra or improved body armor. The Department of Defense reports that as of May 28, 2010, there were 4,404 dead U.S. Armed Forces and 31,827 wounded in action in Iraq and, as of Jan. 13, 2011 between Iraq and Afghanistan, a total of 5,887 lives could have been saved with effective body armor. Even the body armor weight is enough to make soldiers seriously question leaving it off altogether. Service members deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan routinely carry loads from 60 to more than 100 pounds of equipment.
Much of the initial research for the invention, was spurred upon questioning the continual weaknesses and disadvantages in the battlefield of the Interceptor armor used in the military. When considering angular geometry in the mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) Hum-V designed to minimize IED damage, the armor of the invention shares many of the same characteristics.
MRAP vehicles have “V” shaped hulls to deflect away any explosive forces originating below the vehicle thereby protecting the vehicle and its passenger compartment. U.S. military has already bought 10,000 MRAP vehicles proving their belief in the design, and even enhanced it with the MRAP II. But none have thought of applying its technology directly to any armor system such as protective body garments, protective shields, and panel construction for fitting enclosures including buildings, and vehicle and ship bodies with armored wall portions.
The level or grade of ballistic material depends on several testing factors; namely, type of weapon, caliber, bullet type, testing range, and projectile velocity. Kevlar® 29 fabrics are most often used in their dry form although they can be used in hard armor applications. Typical applications include: protective vests, gloves, hard armor helmets, and ballistic panels.
The material used in the invention is a high strength grade of steel as close to ballistics grade as possible that is typically far more cost-effective than an alternative such as Kevlar or ceramics. For steel is much more abundant to obtain and a practical resource to mass-produce. However, the mechanical design of the armor is found to be as important as its material composition. Most current research on armor delves solely into the composition aspect, i.e., the type material used to make the armor. The invention uses a mechanical engineering approach to better utilize what is already there through a more efficient mechanical design.
Problems Related to Body Armor
Several problems exist with body armor typically used today by law enforcement and military personnel. A primary issue that arises is cost. Most modern body armor front plates cost about $400 to $600, and entire armor suits sell for $1000 minimum, depending on its quality and projectile stopping capability. For example, a complete Interceptor body armor system currently used by the military costs $1500. Such a price is a direct result of the intricate ceramic composition of armor plates but can be partially avoided by using a cheaper material such as high-grade steel. Such steel is far more abundant and easy to use in design formation and production.
Most current body armor units can withstand a finite number of hits thus raising a large issue of sustainability. The armor is effectively useless because deep bullet penetration and a radial surface impact leaves most of a plate structurally unsound. Recent armor designs have a simple compactness with individual plates in a linear formation thus choosing material composition over physical design. More flexible materials such as Kevlar fail to stop high powered rounds.
Today's ceramic armor plate is intrinsically brittle and highly prone to stress fractures. If dropped, it has a high potential of cracking and suffering micro fractures that compromise the entire plate's integrity. Therefore, the armor plate must be X-rayed periodically to find any damage that may affect its performance. Most importantly, extremely high-energy transfer to a wearer occurs as the plate absorbs little of a bullet's energy so it does not effectively protect the wearer from energy damage.